Chuck and Sarah vs The Veterans
by BDaddyDL
Summary: Chuck and Sarah are surprised by the Woodcomb's in a whole new way. Not Awesome Bro..CO WRITTEN by QUISTIE64 Final Chapter is up.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N1: So a few months ago a little bunny jumped in my head. It stayed there, festering. Normally I would have written it, of forgotten it, but this one was different. In order to make this fun I would need a co writer. A lady who not only writes Chuck FF; but still writes in the fandom, and is married. Then I read Chuck vs the Ninja Librarian by Quistie64.**

**I love that story. I think her librarian character is sorely needed on the show. So I told her about the idea, and she actually wanted to write the 2nd chapter. I can't wait for y'all to read it, but PJ Murphy is going to look over it. Thank goodness he did this first chapter, it was ugly.**

**I do not own Chuck, from what I hear neither does my partner on this deal. Although if season 5 ends on the beach, and Sarah tells Chuck she is pregnant, I want royalties.**

Chuck slid the old looking porcelain coffee mug around the polished chrome table. The silver sides made the thin table seem a lot larger. Although with his long limbs, these old diners never did give him a lot of legroom.

_It's a good thing this coffee is good; otherwise I would have nothing to do during the awkward pauses, _Chuck thought to himself as he waited for his tablemate to speak up.

As he sat there he realized he had not spent very much time with Woody Woodcomb. The last time he saw him was during Ellie and Devon's wedding. Any other time Woody visited, he had been on missions. It wasn't that he didn't like Woody, but there was such a thing as _too_ awesome. So having both Devon and Woody in front of him was a bit intimidating. Not a playing UNO for your life intimidating, but a Ellie won't cook for me anymore intimidating.

In an unnaturally loud voice, Woody filled the air of the diner as he spoke. "Chuck, I'm so glad we could meet here before your wedding. Son, I know I 'l never take the place of your dad, but there is some advice that was passed to me from my father."

Chuck opened his mouth to say something polite, and then he heard hacking sound coming from the person next to Woody.

_Cough, cough, cough._

Woody turned to his son and looked concerned as he patted him on the back. "Devon, are you OK? Why don't you go into the bathroom and splash some water on your face. Maybe you had something that doesn't agree with you."

Devon's quick exit from the table did not surprise Chuck, but he did raise his eyebrows when Woody seemed relieved when his son left. Awesome's dad turned and faced Chuck. "With what I gave him he'll be in there for a few minutes. "

The older Doctor turned and stared at his in law. "Chuck, I'm glad you met with me, since it is long past time for us to have a talk."

"I didn't know that you felt this way, sir. I would have made the time."

The elder Woodcomb was lifting his coffee cup to his mouth when he snorted into it. He gracefully wiped his face with a napkin and took a sip before continuing. "I am sure you would have Chuck, but I am talking about how safe my son, his wife, and daughter are with you working with the CIA."

Chuck slowly lowered his coffee cup. It was times like these he was grateful his future wife had been schooling him on a good blank expression. Two years ago, he would have had coffee all over his Woody's shirt right now. Instead, he swallowed and remained calm. "CIA? Dr. Woodcomb, I just work at the Buy More. The closest I get to being some kind of spy would be on the Xbox."

"I don't know all the details, Chuck, but I know your cover is important. In some ways, I'm relieved you are denying this."

Now I can tell you something I haven't mentioned in almost forty years. Near the end of 1971, I went overseas to help pay for my medical school costs, since my old man refused to pay my bills. So when a recruiter came to me, I thought I would be working for the Peace Corps. I ended up working at Non Khom Phamon in Thailand, as what amounted to a glorified medic for Air America. I met…"

"Senator Edward Roberts, who was a pilot at the time," Chuck interrupted.

Woody smiled. "I was told you would surprise me. The senator…and don't worry, he mentioned it to me six months ago…said you would be full of surprises."

All Chuck could do was look down at his coffee. When he looked up again at Woody, the older man sat back. Chuck was not surprised. While he had not become the cold agent his bride-to-be had feared when he became a full-time operative, he still had an intense, serious side. Carmichael came in handy quite a bit.

"Dr Woodcomb, I understand you have some concerns, but if you want any answers, I have to know what you know."

"Damn," Woody said in a half-grunt. "You remind me of Eddie at that age. So loyal, so eager to save the world. I hope nothing ever changes that." Woody looked straight into Chuck's eyes before continuing. "For the past few years, you have been working for the Agency with your fiancée and the Ronald Regan fanboy. On at least two occasions my son and your sister, whom I think of as the daughter I never had, have been brought into that world."

Without blinking Chuck stared back. "A few years ago, I did become part of the spy world. I became a small part of the one of the most successful teams in history. Because we did a great job…the people I know, the people I care about, became targets. The team took care of those threats. We learned from our mistakes, and now Ellie and Devon know what's going on. They even trusted us to get them out of Costa Gravas during an attempted coup. There is not much to worry about."

Chuck looked around the diner. "Speaking of Devon, aren't you worried he isn't back yet?"

A barely perceptible grin grin came across Woody's face even greater than his normal optimistic expression. "We needed a few minutes alone. I learned quite a few things in my time in Southeast Asia. Including information on a local herb that, when ingested, causes coughing, followed by a short but quite intense bout of gastro intestinal distress."

When Chuck's eyes opened wide and his mouth opened, but did not say anything Woody continued. "Unfortunately, the info was given to me at a price. I have been asked to speak to you about something. Evidently the CIA had a spy couple, but they fought so much it disrupted their missions. I was asked to talk to you about a lasting marriage. Since I wanted to do that …"

"The Turners?" Woody stared in surprise at how much Chuck knew.

"I hope you don't have to learn the lessons they did. All you have to do…"

Woody cut the conversation as he noticed someone return to the table. "About time you made it back, Devon. Are you OK?" Woody asked his son.

Devon looked at his father and his brother-in-law and was a bit surprised at the tense look on their faces. He shrugged it off and figured they were just concerned about him.

He shook his head and felt a twinge in his stomach from the memory of what just happened to him. "I don't know what happened, but it was not awesome. Not awesome at all."

"So as I was saying before Devon left I wanted to give you the same advice I gave him." Woody put his hands above his head and lowered them easily to the table. "There are two roads you can take in a marriage. The smooth road…", and then he repeated the same maneuver with his hands, only they wiggled and veered all over the place. "…or, the bumpy road. The smooth road is simple. Sarah is a brilliant woman; just do what she says. Even if you are right, do it, and talk about it later. This leads to a nice easy marriage. One that is filled with love and is a lot of fun."

Woody looked to his side and saw Devon smiling. "He's right, bro."

"The other is the bumpy road. This road is taken when you know you are right and you do what you want to do. This road is filled with arguments, anxiety, and distrust. Now from time to time, you will forget to take the smooth road, but don't worry. Once you're back on the smooth road, it'll get better."

A confused look overtook Chuck. "Wait, if I'm right, why shouldn't I say so?"

Devon spoke up before his father could. He started to shake his head slowly. "Chuckster, Chuckster, remember when you thought last year you had to be the boss?"

From the confused look on Chuck's face the answer was obvious, so Devon continued. "Remember calling Sarah 'woman'?" Devon waited for Chuck to remember. Chuck felt the blood drain from his face when he recalled one of his less stellar moments while they tried to rescue Roan Montgomery.

Devon couldn't help but smile. "Yeah, I thought you would. So how cold was the bed that night?"

"Antarctica."

Woody jumped back into the conversation "See, even if you were right, you were wrong. Trust me Chuck; you will have a much happier life if you follow the smooth road."

Once Chuck nodded his understanding, Poppa Awesome started to get out of his seat. "Well guys, I have to go. Enjoy your meal. The time got away from me."

When Woody was almost to the door of the diner, Chuck said "Mr Woodcomb, hold on."

Once Chuck got to him he said "I want to thank you for accepting us into your family, and believe me, nothing is more important than my family. I will do anything for them."

The oldest Woodcomb looked at Chuck and nodded with a small smile as he turned and walked out the door."

**A/N2 Well there it is. I hope you liked it. Please hit the review button**.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Quistie64 here. First off, I want to thank BDaddyDL for asking me to co-author this story. I am truly honored. He had the wonderful idea of having companion pieces from two different points of view regarding marriage and I just hope I did the story justice. I also hope the advice given in the  
>story rings true. Hey, we have 35 years of marriage combined between the two of us! We must be doing something right.<strong>

**Also, a big thank you to PJ Murphy who beta'd this chapter. He made it better.**

**A/N 2: The third chapter and final was completed today. Now it's off to Beta. Please enjoy. **

The warm bubbles swirled around her feet while the distinct smell of nail polish nearly overwhelmed her. Sarah Walker knew she should just relax and enjoy her mani-pedi but she couldn't since she couldn't figure out why she was there in the first place. Why her fiancé's sister's husband's mother would invite her to get a mani-pedi with her was simply bewildering. Yet here she sat with her feet submerged in warm, effervescing water and her fingernails being French-tipped.

She glanced over at the woman sitting in the chair next to her. There sat Dr. Honey Woodcomb, the mother of all that was "Awesome" in her blonde, tousled yet somehow perfectly coiffed glory. Sarah had only met Honey a few times, mostly in connection with Devon and Ellie's wedding. She especially remembered the extremely uncomfortable dinner with all the Awesomes when Chuck didn't show up like he was supposed to. Somehow, she ended up at the table by herself with the Doctors Awesome, and that was more than a little awkward. Thankfully, Chuck called her when he was handcuffed to the counter at the Orange Orange and she was able to leave. That or she was going to drink way more wine than polite company allowed. Despite her petite size, Dr. Honey Woodcomb was a very formidable woman, to which Sarah could attest. At that very dinner she watched Ellie, who was a fairly intimidating person in her own right, be completely bowled over by Honey. Sarah was quite apprehensive at what was in store for her on this day.

"It's a shame Ellie couldn't come with us today," Sarah said in a probing manner. Finding out Ellie wouldn't be there with them caused Sarah to have a fair amount of consternation. She could have used a buffer.

"Oh, I planned this so Ellie wouldn't be able to come. I knew she had to work today," Honey replied as she stretched her left hand out in front of her to check on her finished nails. Her giant diamond engagement ring and wedding band flashed when they caught the light. "I wanted to speak with you alone."

Sarah felt a cold shiver shoot up her spine. Chuck's and her wedding was pretty well-planned. Honey wasn't going to try to take over their wedding like she did with Ellie and Awesome's wedding, was she? Come to think of it, they hadn't even planned on inviting Devon's parents to the wedding.

_Uh-oh_.

Sarah smiled feebly. "You wanted to speak with me alone?"

"Yes, dear. There are a couple of things I would like to discuss with you, and I thought it would be better if we didn't have the rest of the family around, don't you?"

"I suppose," Sarah replied warily. "I'm sorry, but I'm not sure what you're talking about."

Honey smiled slightly and didn't respond. She simply watched as the manicurist painted the nails on her right hand.

Sarah didn't like this feeling at all, as she was usually the one to make people wait and squirm. She was always the intimidating one. She had recently kidnapped a Thai diplomat, plunged a syringe full of ammonia in to his neck, and threatened to empty its contents into him if he didn't give her the information she wanted. Now she sat, shifting in her seat this way and that way, like a three-year-old in church.

The five minutes it took the manicurists to finish their fingernails felt like an eternity to Sarah, but Sarah and Honey were left alone for their feet to soak a little longer. It was then, when they were completely alone, that Honey finally turned towards Sarah.

"I wanted to make sure my son, my daughter-in-law, and my precious granddaughter are safe."

Sarah couldn't keep the surprise from her face. "What? Why wouldn't they be?"

"Well, you work for the Agency, of course," Honey replied, waving her one of her freshly manicured hands dismissively.

Over the years, Sarah had learned to not react when being accused of working for the CIA. However, in most of those circumstances, it was in a context where she could see it coming. This was not one of those times, as this seemed to come from left field. Overall, she thought she did a pretty good job of hiding her reaction to Honey's statement, although she was powerless to stop an eyebrow that rose of its own accord.

"Um, excuse me?" she asked evenly, working to keep the surprise from her voice.

"I knew something strange was up with you at Devon and Ellie's wedding. It wasn't hard to notice the mess made by the Special Forces team after they came in and shot up the reception hall." Honey looked around before leaning in towards Sarah. "Devon's great-uncle and aunt still don't know why they never got a thank you card from them for the steak knives they gave as a wedding gift."

Sarah couldn't stop the flush she felt coming over her face. _Oh, this is bad._ It was way worse than she thought it would be.

Honey, however, came to her rescue. "Don't worry, Sarah. I won't tell anyone. I understand what it's like from my own time with the Agency."

Sarah saw a smirk grow on Honey's face in reaction to the look on her own.

"I was recruited by the Agency after I had just finished my residency. I was in debt up to my eyeballs, and they promised to help me pay off my student loans."

She paused and looked at Sarah. "Apparently, I fit the type," she added dryly.

Sarah smiled sardonically and looked down at her feet still submerged in the roiling water. To say she could identify with what Honey said was an understatement.

"I was still able to practice medicine since I was a mission-specific doctor," Honey continued. "They would send me to wherever there was to be a big mission just in case there were injuries. It helped in hostile foreign countries to not to have to find a local hospital or doctor. Gunshot wounds tended to make people curious. I was based out of Langley, and that's where I met Woody."

"He was with the Agency, too?"

"No, not at first. We met a medical convention in the area. He thought I worked at Bethesda Naval Hospital. One thing led to another, and we started dating. He had been recruited to work overseas to help pay for his medical school bills and was a glorified medic in Vietnam near the end of the war. Anyway, when we decided to get married, my superiors thought it might be a good idea to bring him into the Agency. In effect, I recruited him." She gave Sarah a sly smile. "Sound familiar?"

By this time, Sarah had relaxed somewhat and was willing to return Honey's smile with a more genuine smile of her own.

Honey continued. "I don't know all the details of what happened between you and Chuck at Devon and Ellie's aborted wedding, and frankly, I don't want to know. I'm just glad you two worked it out because it was clear to everyone you two were crazy in love with each other."

That garnered a snicker from Sarah. "You aren't the first to have made that observation."

"Uh huh. No kidding," she said matter-of-factly.

"So did Devon ever find out about your, um, employer?"

"Good heavens, no!" Honey laughed. "He's terrible at keeping secrets. It would have been on the national news if he found out about it." Suddenly she stopped laughing. "Please don't tell him. He's got enough on his plate with you and Chuck, don't you think?"

Sarah gave her an innocent look. "Chuck works at the Buy More."

"Yes, of course he does," she said, clearly playing along. "Now, do you promise to keep my family safe?"

Sarah's face turned serious. "Your family is my family. I have and will always do everything in my power to keep them safe." Honey saw the determination in Sarah she herself had at that age.

"Count on it," Sarah added with conviction.

Honey nodded her head once emphatically. It was exactly the response she wanted to hear. "I didn't ask you here to tell you my life's story, but I did want to give you some hard-earned advice about marriage, especially given your chosen profession."

Sarah shifted in her chair to turn a little more toward Honey, ready to listen.

"I don't know a lot about your background, Sarah, but I do know from Ellie you aren't in contact with your own mother and that Chuck's mother just recently came back into their lives after being gone a very long time." Sarah nodded. "I hope I'm not overstepping here, but I thought it might be helpful to hear from someone who has been at this marriage thing for a long time."

Sarah stayed quiet, giving Honey her tacit approval to continue.

"Now, down the road, if and when kids come along, you and Chuck might have to make a decision about whether or not you will stay in your line of work. I can only tell you that Woody and I felt it best to leave the Agency when Devon's oldest brother came along. We felt our first responsibility was to raise our kids and being away from them for extended periods of time was not something we were willing to do. I can't tell you what to do, but when the time comes, think about yours and Chuck's own childhoods."

Sarah shuddered at that, and a few tears stung at the back of Sarah's eyes. Chuck and she were both pretty damaged by their childhoods. She wasn't prepared to make any decisions now, but she certainly didn't want to have Chuck's and her kids have the same kind of childhood they endured.

Sarah took a deep breath and sighed in relief when the manicurists returned to start on their pedicures. At least Honey couldn't talk about the Agency in front of them. However, it didn't stop her from dispensing a little more advice.

"Now this second piece of advice goes for anyone in any kind of relationship, but you might find this helpful in dealing with your husband since sometimes husbands do stupid or hurtful things."

Sarah looked into Honey's eyes expecting to see humor there. Instead, she was met with a serious look and Honey's voiced matched it. "Astronomically stupid and idiotically hurtful."

Sarah waited.

"You are going to have to forgive him, every dang time, no matter what."

_Wait just a second_, she thought. Sarah's brow furrowed. "Always? Right away?"

Honey gave a gentle laugh. "Oh, no. Not always right away but eventually, yes. Otherwise you'll grow bitter and resentful and live in your cocoon of hurt and anger. That's not good for anyone. You have to give up your grudge and the right to be the victim. Punish him if you must, depending on what he did, but always forgive, even if it takes awhile. Nothing affirms love more than forgiveness."

_Prague_, Sarah thought, her insides twisting a little.

"It goes both ways, sweetie. As much as we like to think we are, we wives aren't perfect and we do stupid and hurtful things to our husbands, too. When you know you've done something to hurt him, you need to swallow your pride and ask for forgiveness. Doing that can smooth things over faster than you would believe," she said gently. "Husbands will always blindly accept a small amount of contrition from you."

She then raised a playful eyebrow. "And a small amount of negligee never hurt, either."

_Stupid prenuptial agreement_, she thought, just to name one of the many screw-ups of her own.

They both looked at the manicurists, who were laughing at the last thing Honey said.

"Listen to her," the one rubbing lotion onto Sarah's feet said with a grin. "Works on my husband every time."

To Sarah's surprise, her feet had been removed from the bubbling, churning water and wiped off with a soft towel. She had become so engrossed in her conversation with Honey, she didn't even notice when it happened. She heaved a huge sigh of relief when she realized she appeared to have escaped this potentially hugely awkward time with Honey relatively unscathed. In truth, she was actually grateful for the advice, as she had never been good at relationships. It seemed pretty sound. She would have to talk to Chuck about this little confab Honey and she had just had.

Honey gave Sarah a confident smile, which she returned with equal resolve.

The manicurist at Sarah's feet held up two bottles of nail polish. "Pink or red?"

"Red?" Sarah asked with a grin.

"Red," Honey and the two manicurists responded together as if the answer was obvious.

"Red it is!" Sarah laughed, her eyes dancing.

**A/N: To quote Quistie64 "Positive reinforcement. It works every time. If you catch them doing something right and reward them, they keep trying to do good things to get another reward. It works with kids, dogs, adults, fanfiction writers…"**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: I would like to once again thank BDaddyDL for asking me to write this story with him. The whole process has been a lot of fun, especially bouncing ideas around and finding the perfect inspiration. This third chapter is testament to that process.**

**He also reminded me to plug my in-progress story "Return of the Ninja Librarian." If you haven't already, I'd love for you to check it out.**

**A/N2:I would like to thank OregonLT3 for getting me a lot of info on a show that is mentioned, made this idea flow a lot better. Hey you, yeah you, Jaytoyz…See I'm still writing. You can stop nagging when I review.**

**This chapter also has a bit of Kate Mckay. I just finished and PJ was working, and she did a quick run through for me. Had I known she would fix some things, I might have concentrated on actually using punctuation. Finally, I personally want to thank Wepdiggy. His creation has created a new ingredient for FF writers to use.  
><strong>

**Both Quistie64 and I want to thank PJ Murphy for doing the beta on this. He worked really fast on this, and put up with my exhaustion last night as we were finishing this up. The first half of chapter three is all Quistie64, and I did something different with the second half. I hope you enjoy.  
>As always, please review. We writers always want to know what you thought, good, bad or indifferent. It really does mean a lot to us.<strong>

Sarah wielded the kitchen knife like a professional chef, the flashing metal blade slicing and dicing its way through the pile of vegetables. She decided to make pasta primavera for dinner and had picked up the ingredients and a loaf of garlic bread at the grocery store on the way home from her mani-pedi with Honey Woodcomb. She had already sliced her way through the zucchini, onions, squash and bell peppers. They were in a jumbled pile off to the side of the cutting board. Although she concentrated on what she was doing as she brandished her knife, she allowed her mind to drift over the conversation Honey and she had earlier that day. She was still trying to wrap her head around the idea both Honey and Woody had been CIA agents. She also thought about Honey's advice regarding forgiveness.

_Easy to hear, hard to do,_ she thought.

She was slicing a carrot into thin strips when she heard the front door open. She suddenly felt like quite the happy homemaker, busily making dinner as her man came home. A few years ago, being in a situation like this would have scared her to death. She would have climbed out a window, never to be seen again. Then along came Chuck. After she met him, she found herself climbing in a window just to be near him. Now, a happy smile overtook her face when she saw Chuck come in and drop his keys on the small table next to the door. She carefully laid the knife on the cutting board and grabbed a kitchen towel to wipe her hands. She closed the distance between them so she could give him a proper greeting.

"Hey, beautiful," he said with a warm smile as she approached.

"Hey yourself, handsome," she replied with a devilish gleam in her eye. She whipped the kitchen towel around his neck and grabbed the free end of it with her other hand. She gave the towel a tug, pulled his head toward her and gave him a resounding and memorable kiss hello.

His eyes were a bit glazed. "Well, that's a great thing to come home to," he mumbled. He removed one of her hands from the towel and kissed the top of it. As he moved her hand away from his lips, he noticed her fingernails.

"Pretty. Did you have your nails done today?"

She was pleased he noticed such a small detail and rewarded him with a quick kiss. "I did. And you'll never guess who I went with," she said as she retrieved the towel from Chuck's neck, releasing him. She turned and walked back toward the kitchen with Chuck trailing closely behind her.

"Um, Ellie?"

"Nope."

"Morgan. He's always had suspiciously nice nails."

"No again," her answer was accompanied by a playful toss of the kitchen towel at his face.

"Ah, you're going to wish you had held onto this towel," he said wickedly, holding the towel low and twirling it around and around. He raised an eyebrow as he prepared to snap it at her like they were in a locker room.

"Don't even think about it," she warned, making a show of picking up her knife from the cutting board. She waved a poor, unsuspecting carrot in his face and then proceeded to expertly slice it up in less than 15 seconds.

"Take a guess what that carrot represented," Sarah intoned with a not-at-all-subtle look at Chuck's groin.

He blanched slightly and quickly tossed the towel onto the counter. "Okay, moving on," he said, duly chastised.

"You still need to guess who I was out with today," she reminded him as she found a bowl and threw the cut up vegetables into it.

"I give up," he conceded as he took out a pot and filled it with water for boiling the pasta.

Her eyebrow arched when she said, "Honey Woodcomb."

Chuck visibly jerked, causing some of the water to slosh out of the pot and onto his shirt. "Hon-, Honey Woodcomb? As in Awesome's mom, Honey Woodcomb?" he burbled.

Her brow knitted together at his strange reaction. She knew it was odd she would interact with Honey, but she didn't expect a similar response from him. "How many other Honey Woodcombs do we know?" she asked. "Why did you react like that, Chuck?"

He lugged the pot of water to the stove, placed it on the burner and turned up the heat. He turned back to her. "I had coffee with Woody Woodcomb today," he said pointedly.

"What? What are they up to?"

He shrugged, "What did you two talk about?"

"Well, first off she wanted to make sure Devon, Ellie and Clara will be safe."

"Safe?"

Sarah nodded. "Mm-hmm. Somehow, she knew I was with the Agency. She said she figured it out from that Special Forces invasion during Awesome and Ellie's aborted wedding. But how would she know it was the CIA?" she wondered aloud, pouring some olive oil on the veggies and adding the herbs.

"I can answer that," Chuck said as he grabbed a baking sheet and placed it next to the bowl of veggies Sarah was mixing with her hands. "He asked me the exact same thing…about Devon and Ellie and Clara being safe. Woody knew we were with the Agency, too. He said he heard it from a senator months ago."

Sarah's mouth dropped open upon hearing such a serious breach of security. Then she shook her head. "Politicians," she mumbled in obvious irritation. She took a handful of veggies and angrily threw them on the baking sheet. "Can't keep a secret…" she groused as she spread them out. Had she still possessed the knife, it may have ended up turning one of the cabinets into a dartboard.

Chuck waited until her anger subsided. "Is that all she wanted to talk about?" he asked as he took the baking sheet of veggies and put them into the oven to roast.

Sarah set the timer and answered, "No. There were a couple of other things."

"Such as?" Chuck prompted as he leaned against the counter and folded his arms across his chest.

"She wanted to talk to me about the hard decisions we might have to make about our jobs when we have kids."

The corner of one side of Chuck's mouth crooked up, and he stopped himself before it became an ear-to-ear grin. He didn't want to spook her, but he couldn't help being joyous over Sarah using the phrase '_when_ we have kids'.

"Why would she want to talk to you about that?"

She turned and looked him right in the eye with her hand on her hip. "She was in the Agency," she stated. She smirked when his eyes widened. "And she recruited Woody into the Agency as well."

"What?" Chuck was incredulous. "Is everyone we know a spy?"

Sarah threw her hands up in surrender. "It sure seems that way. Either they were spies or they know we're spies."

"And in their case, both," Chuck lamented. Suddenly, he paused. "Wait, everybody?"

"I hope not Jeff and Lester." Sarah started cracking up. "Can you imagine Lester with a gun?"

Chuck visibly shuddered at the thought. "He'd make Barney Fife look like Clint Eastwood. Or, hey…" he said, warming up to the game. "How about Jeff seducing a mark to get information."

Sarah grimaced at the images swirling in her. "Eww, Chuck, stop. I think I just threw up in my mouth a little."

"Yeah, sorry." They both stood silently for a moment staring at the floor, trying to exorcise the images of Jeff trying to be James Bond.

Chuck roused himself out of it. "Anyway, Woody told me he was in Southeast Asia as a medic, but he never mentioned he was in the CIA."

"I think it was after that," Sarah replied. "Anyway, she just wanted to tell me that they left the Agency when they started having kids. They both felt their first priority was to their family."

Chuck listened attentively but didn't respond. That was a discussion for another day. "What was the other thing she wanted to talk to you about?"

Sarah blushed slightly. "She gave me some advice on having a happy, long-lasting marriage."

Chuck gave a Sarah-melting smile. "Woody did the same with me. Apparently, talking to us about that very subject was a kind of payment for the information the senator gave them about us. My guess is that the Agency doesn't want a repeat of the Turners."

"Who can blame them?" she chuckled. She moved next to him and began to play with his tie. Her crystal blue eyes danced as she gazed at him. "So what advice did he give you?"

He hesitated for a brief moment weighing his options. Was he really going to have to put this into practice already? He took a deep breath. "He said we can have a bumpy ride or a smooth ride," he replied in a nervous voice. She waited expectantly for him to continue. "He said you are a brilliant woman and all I need to do is always agree with you and do what you say. If I do that we'll have a wonderful, fun-filled marriage. The other way, not so much."

He held his breath waiting for her answer. Thankfully, a grin spread across her face.

"Interesting. Honey told me I need to forgive you every time you do something stupid. Their advice seems to complement each other, don't they?" She didn't mention to him the other part of Honey's advice. She figured that when it came time for her to ask for his forgiveness, it would be more effective if he didn't see it coming.

Chuck blew out the breath he had been holding. "Well, you know, we don't necessarily have to listen to them. We can ask some other long time happily married couples we know for advice."

Sarah cocked her head to one side as she thought about that. Chuck's tipped his head back and looked up as if searching the ceiling for an answer. The ticking of the clock in the kitchen seemed to get louder and louder as the silence increased.

Chuck looked like he would explode and said when he looked back at her. "The Turners?"

After looking at each other for a few seconds Sarah laughed. "Ummm, yeah. Let's go with the Woodcombs."

**Sometime Later**

Chuck opened the door for his bride. The last few months had been interesting. The Norseman, the hospital, the wedding, and then the money, it all set so much in motion. It had been a crazy ride, and now they were going into a restaurant to meet Honey and Woody. Chuck opened the door for his bride, both thinking that the two would never have dinner with the elder Woodcombs. Yet here they were, approaching what looked to be a poster for an advertisement to come to California.

When everyone had sat down Woody looked at Chuck and laughed. His arm swung around and hit Chuck on the arm. In the process Chuck was teetered like a top before Woody spoke up.

"Don't worry, Chuckster. This is a fun conversation. Honey and I haven't had anyone to talk to in years."

Honey's voice lowered a bit more than usual. "Besides, it's been so long since we were employed by the agency, we don't have any secrets worth telling."

Sarah smiled and let out a breath. "I'm glad you invited us. I'm not sure that the Turners were a good example of great agents."

Honey grimaced. "Mr. Turner never did realize at the end of the evening, you are supposed to take your wife home, not the floozy of the night."

Woody barked out a laugh. "Yeah, although I do believe Mrs. Turner never met a drink she didn't like."

Sarah nodded with an obviously displeased look on her face. "I think the less that can be said about the Turners, the better."

Chuck turned to Woody. "So, other than conversation, are you here to dispense any other advice?"

Woody took a sip of water. "Why would we do that? It would ruin all those chances for makeup sex."

Honey's eyes bulged out and she slapped her husband on his shoulder. "Woody, stop it, unless you…" Honey got red in the face. "Well played, Mr. Woodcomb. Well played," she barely eked out.

Chuck laughed and then looked at his wife. "Now I see where Devon gets it from."

***BREAK***

"…so then Chuck said, 'You caught me when I fell'." The whole table laughed heartily in reaction to Sarah's story.

Honey finally caught her breath, glancing at the younger couple. "Just make sure you're careful if they ever turn your story into a TV show."

Woody rolled his eyes in response and took a big gulp of wine. Apparently, it wasn't the first time this came up. It did not take long for Honey to continue. "Don't get me wrong, the show has allowed us to not have to worry about money anymore, but there was a cost to it."

Sarah looked between the couple in front of them. "Show? What show? I don't remember ever hearing about this." When she looked at Chuck, he shrugged his shoulders. This was news to both of them.

Honey explained. "Back in the early eighties, we were contacted by a guy in the agency who went to Hollywood and stayed in touch with Woody. He wanted to base a TV show loosely on us. At first we were excited."

Chuck was interested, to say the least. "What show?"

At this point Woody jumped in. "Then production started, they aired it, and it became quite a popular show."

"What show?" Sarah asked, her curiosity now piqued as well.

Honey was mumbling in annoyance while Woody explained. "A beige LTD, a beige LTD station wagon, in fact. Seriously, what kind of spy would want a cop car as their vehicle?"

Chuck and Sarah shared a knowing glance. "I can't imagine," Chuck replied.

"Although, they had to make a few changes in the show in order to protect our identities," Woody told them.

Chuck tried again. "What show?"

Honey was fuming. "Housewife… housewife… I ha a damned medical degree from Berkley. I got through the Farm with flying colors, and they made me...ugh."

"Honey was such an accomplished person. Most of the changes to our covers were done to her."

Chuck and Sarah looked at each other and at the same time. "WHAT SHOW?" they shouted in frustration.

Honey shook her head with a huge grin. "What would be the fun in telling you?"

Sarah furrowed her brow and she looked lost for a second. "Chuck, isn't there a show you made me watch when we first worked together? Something and the King? The one where the spy gets together with the housewife? You thought it would change my mind abouvet the rules."

"Oh, no." Honey turned when her husband said that. She saw Woody empty his glass and grab the bottle to pour himself another one.

"See? I told you, Woody. I was the spy, for god's sake. And as I recall, you thought you were some kind of James Bond wannabe. Then the woman who played me always reminded me of that nurse who wouldn't stop flirting with you. God, she was such a…what word am I thinking of?"

"Skank," Sarah said as she smiled at Honey.

Honey smiled in return. "Yeah, skank. Exactly. Then they put a mother in the show. She was some kind of pushy busybody who just took over things."

Sara's voice became louder and she started gesturing with her hands. "Oh, believe me; I know all about skanks. The stories I can tell you about skanks."

Honey continued "If it wasn't for Ellie or that adorable girl who is John's daughter…,"

"Alex."

"Yeah, Alex. I would have to go psycho on all brunettes. That's the part that really got me; they made my character a brunette. Brunette skanks are the worst."

"They swoop in and try to take my man,." Sarah said after taking a large sip of wine.

When Chuck heard that, it was his turn to grab the wine bottle. Honey snorted and put her hand on Chuck's. "Oh, don't worry, Chuck. Sarah is simply being very protective of her husband, just like I was. I think it's adorable."

Honey then sat back in her chair and drained her wine glass in one gulp. "Damn skanks." Sarah laughed at that as Honey put her glass down forcefully and refilled it. "Oh, I know, and then made my character act as if the big strong man had to come and save her. Puh-lease."

Chuck leaned over and Woody did the same. "Should we change the subject?" Chuck whispered.

"Only if you want to turn into their target. Right now, silence is golden."

Chuck just nodded as he sat back up straight and listened to the end of the tirade.

"Seriously, some little brunette skank in one of those slutty nurse outfits is going to take my man out from under me? I don't think so!"

Sarah shook her head in total agreement. "I know! If I ever have to deal with another brunette skank trying to take my man…"

The waitress assigned to the table chose that moment to refill their water. When she heard the conversation, the chestnut haired twentysomething turned around quickly. Chuck figured she went to clock out early, or at least find a blonde or redhead to cover her table. Even a busboy would have sufficed right now.

"Isn't that right, Chuck?" Sarah asked.

Chuck opened his mouth, and all that came out was "Yes, dear."

When Chuck looked over he saw Woody, with a smile in his eye, nod and tip his glass to him.

"You're learning quickly, Chuck," Woody said as motioned the wine steward to get them another bottle.

**A/N Final: Remember positive reinforcement helps. It also helps me argue with PJ that it's finally time to post the next chapter of Heritage.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Today is Quisties Birthday! In honor of that Frea and Victorianoir have mad a tumblr. Go to the tumblr web sight and search ProjectSunray. From there you can see some stories fan art and letters for and to Quistie. For my own part I was going to write a long involved 1 shot, but as usual it morphed into something huge. Instead I wrote a kind of epilogue to the Veterans. You are Amazing madame. The world is a brighter place because of you.**

"Chuck, I don't understand. With the my memories still like Swiss cheese, I asked Ellie about her in-laws and she got all weird on me. Now you're telling me we're going to eat with them?"

Her husband turned from where he was getting dressed. "What Ellie doesn't know is that they were both part of the agency. We've had supper a few times, and they're always fun to listen too."

Sarah raised her eyebrow, and her lips grew tight. "I don't like practical jokes."

After shaking his head vigorously he said "I'm serious." After looking at his watch briefly he said "it's time to head out."

—

"After the kiss I didn't remember much more, but I knew I loved him. There was no way I was going to leave after that."

"That's so sweet Sarah. So have you're memories returned?" Honey leaned in and tilted her head to listen to the question she just asked.

"Memories come back in different size and at odd times. Like last week I was flipping through the channels and saw 'I Dream of Jeannie' and I remembered using a belly dancing outfit for a mission."

Woody had to hit Chuck's back a couple of times when he stated to choke on the wine he had been sipping on. "You ok Chuck?"

After regaining his composure he said "Sorry, that outfit was, ah, memorable."

It was then that Sarah's eyes grew wide. When everyone looked at her, she said "Does the term 'I hate Skanks' mean anything?"

Immediately both men took a big gulp of wine and in unison said "Oh Boy!"


End file.
